Kidambi Srikanth is on an incredible roll after winning his fourth Superseries title of 2017 and second successive one, as he beat Japan’s Kento Nishimoto in the final of the French Open on Sunday.
Srikanth was elevated to world No 4 earlier this week after clinching his third Superseries title at the Denmark Open last Sunday. Following his French Open triumph, he is likely to rise above the legendary Lin Dan and Son Wan Ho to to second in the world next week.
However, Srikanth isn’t thinking about the rankings and just wants to ensure he is enjoying his game. “Definitely it will be good to be there [at world No 1] but I’m not really thinking of it now,” he told reporters in Paris after the final. “I don’t have any tournaments to defend anywhere so I don’t really want to push myself for the ranking. It’s just to enjoy playing.”
The 24-year-old said he was happy with how the last couple of weeks have gone, in which he played and won 10 matches in the space of 12 days to lift two Superseries titles.
‘Surprised a little bit’
Srikanth admitted he himself was “surprised a little bit” that he had managed to pull off back-to-back Superseries title wins for the second time this year and credited his performance to “the way we have been training in the last nine to 10 months”.
The wins in Denmark and France didn’t come easy. Srikanth had to play three tough three-game matches on the way – against current world No 1 Viktor Axelsen, world No 6 Shi Yuqi and his compatriot HS Prannoy, ranked 12th.
In fact, Srikanth came back from a game down to win all those three matches, and the Guntur lad admitted there was a bit of luck involved. “There were some close matches and I feel I was a bit lucky pulling out [wins],” he said.
The final on Sunday against Nishimoto, however, was a straightforward affair, with Srikanth coming off a 21-14, 21-13 winner. Srikanth said he did not underestimate his opponent, who had reached the final after coming through the qualifiers.
“[Nishimoto] played really well throughout this week,” Srikanth said. “He came from qualifying and played Lee Chong Wei in the first round. He beat [Anders] Antonsen, who had beaten Chen Long, in the semi-final, so I knew it would be a tough match. In the end I am very happy and satisfied with the way I played.”
Srikanth added that he wanted to ensure he did not repeat the mistakes he had made in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, when he allowed his opponents to take the initiative. “In the semis and quarters I felt I really started slow, so I wanted to start off a little better than what I did before. [Nishimoto] is an aggressive, attacking player so I didn’t really want to give him the chance. That really worked for me.”
Srikanth’s incredible run this year ensures he is in pole position for the season-ending Superseries Finals in Dubai. Asked if he would take a break until then, Srikanth said he would take a decision after consulting with coach P Gopichand.